With the Covid-19 pandemic unfolding fast around the world, affecting 200 countries, nearly 80% of all students are out of school and staying at home. As a reaction to this, many schools are turning to online teaching to ensure that students continue to be educated as normally as possible at this time. Like all other schools in England, ABC Languages Cambridge has been forced to temporarily close to face-to-face teaching, in an effort to slow the spread of the virus. As a result of this, we too will be launching our distance learning platform this month. ABC LIVE will be up and running on 20th April, and you can find information about this exciting development here. In this month’s blog, I’m going to outline some of the benefits of learning a language online, as well as an overview of what ABC LIVE can offer you.

It’s important to look at the positives in a situation like this and, while taking on studies from a distance is definitely different to in-classroom learning, there are benefits to be found. Here are some of the positives of moving to online learning:

Comfort: I’ll start with the obvious one. Not having to be physically present in a classroom means that you don’t have to think about getting to and from the school, and you can sit in class wearing whatever you want!

Flexibility: You may not have had time to go to a language school to take an English course, but it is much easier to fit online classes around your career, family and hobbies, rather than the other way around. Now is the perfect time to start learning something new!

More time: Many people have now taken their careers home with them. If you are one of these people, you may find that you have more time to practise your English now that you don’t have to travel to work. This means that you will advance more quickly in your language learning.

Career advancement: As English is a valued ability, by the time you finish an online course you will have added something to your CV that could help you achieve your career goals.

Lower costs: Travelling to a language school may be prohibitively costly for some people. If this applies to you, you may appreciate the lower relative cost of learning a language online, where there is no need to pay for travel or accommodation.

Self-discipline: Studying online takes more self-motivation as you don’t have a teacher constantly checking on you. To be self-motivated is a quality that will help you beyond your language learning, as it makes you attractive to future employers.

An online course for your résumé: Like the qualities you will gain from the course, a language course itself looks great on a résumé. It shows employers that you are focused on learning new things.

Self-paced learning: With your class materials online, you can move through them at your own pace, so you might make more progress than you would in a traditional class.

Say goodbye to shyness: Shyer students often find online classes easier to join in with than face to face.

Better concentration: It has been reported that some students find it easier to focus in online classes because of less classroom distractions.

Thanks to the introduction of ABC LIVE, it is now possible to enjoy all of these benefits of online study!

ABC Languages has been offering student-focussed learning in Cambridge for over 30 years. Now, you can join in with us no matter where you are. The well-qualified, highly experienced teachers from our real school in Cambridge will make your distance learning experience as comparable to our classroom teaching as possible, as you practise your English with other students from around the world.

As well as creating your own study plan and feeding back to you on your assignments your teacher will constantly check on your progress in class and offer you assistance with self-study. Just like in our Cambridge school where you can take your class materials home, you can access your course content at all times on ABC LIVE, and also chat to other students about the course or just to socialise in our virtual Student Common Room.As we aim to keep our online offering as close to our real school as possible, we are continuing to be extremely flexible with the different course options, so that we can suit all budgets and needs. We offer three types of ABC LIVE course plan: Standard, Standard Plus and Premium. All of our open group course options course options can be taken for 4, 8 or 12 weeks and include:

3 live classes a week

An online assessment of your English language level

A one-to-one consultation with one of our teachers to assess your learning targets

An individual study plan tailored to your specific learning needs

Continuous assessment and the ability to check your progress at any point

Homework for self-study at home

Constant access to all class materials

24/7 common room access

End of course attendance certificate

If you upgrade to our Standard Plus course your course will also include:

A summary report

Individual tutorials every two weeks

Personalised feedback on your performance

If you upgrade to our Premium course your course will include all of the above, plus 2 ABC LIVE - Tailored private online lessons every week. You can choose the topic from a wide range of options designed to meet your needs, whether they be academic, business or even special interest related. For example, you could focus on exam preparation, business English, English for leisure interests or English for specific professions like marketing or finance. We have teachers with real-life experience who can help with all of these and more.

If you'd like to add ABC LIVE - Tailored private lessons to your course but you don’t want to take the Premium course, these can be enrolled on individually or added to either the Standard or the Standard Plus package. If you want to take an exam, you can add our ‘Exam Booster’ to your Standard or Standard Plus package, which will give you access to past exam papers, practice tests, worksheets, exam-based exercises and more, as well as individual feedback and coaching.If these courses sound like something you would be interested in, but you’d like to learn more about the classes and what exactly they’d be like, you can opt for an ABC LIVE - Taster. This is completely free of charge and includes 1 live interactive class, a level test and a one-to-one consultation with one of our teachers to assess your needs and goals. If you want to request a free taster of ABC LIVE, just click here to register.For full information about ABC LIVE click here. We hope to have you join us online soon, and remember to stay safe! ​

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Welcome to our school community. We greatly appreciate the trust and loyalty our students, colleagues and partners place in us. Recognising the ongoing and increased uncertainty that coronavirus (COVID-19) is causing around the world, our highest priority is the health and well-being of all those in our school community.We continue to closely watch the situation with COVID-19 and are doing everything we can to make sure everyone in our school community remains safe whilst also ensuring continuity of business.In an effort to maintain some normality, it'll be 'business as usual' on our blog and social media channels so do check-in on us for a moment of escapism.In the meantime, stay home, stay safe!